Kill the Ironclad
by PhantomGuardianoftheRepublic
Summary: Night Raid is getting understaffed due to the deaths of Sheele and Bulat. Their boss Najenda went off to get more personnel, but what if a group of people who have a literal army of metal men just drop on their doorstep? Are they the answer to their problems? (Akame ga Kiru and Ironclad Tactics crossover)
1. Chapter 1

_Hey everyone. Just to let you know I've been having a long period of writer's block with the combination of having a busy life. However, I will try to update the other stories as best as I can although anyone who can volunteer help please PM me, it would be greatly appreciated. So without further ado, Lets' get on with the show!_

**Chapter 1: Prototype Reunion**

-It has been 4 years since the arrest of Zebulon Wright who caused the Civil War and in this time much has happened. Slavery had been abolished with the application of ironclad technologies in the great plantations of the South. Joseph Ashdown and Maxwell Prosser invented the Prosser Drive which used Belgian Anthracite (which powers the ironclads) to power the great industrial factories of the North. Victoria Roebling was made part of a new department in the US Postal Service in charge of dealing with mail fraud cases. Rufus Mitchell and Madame Millie both became powerhouses in the DC political scene, Rufus being a lobbyist for the new energy industry and Millie being the head of the woman rights and suffrage movement. Colonel Crane retired from the US Army to San Francisco after a bout of soul searching and in doing so discovers Kung Fu, now he is a major proponent for teaching martial arts in the military curriculum. Everyone is enjoying the new found peace and currently Joseph and Maxwell had invited their old buddies of that fateful train ride (doesn't include Madame Millie) to the testing of a new development that they were both secretly working on that would revolutionize the known world.

**Private Workshop of Max and Joe; Bureau of Steam Engineering; Albany, New York; 1865**

It was a cold winter's day in Albany, New York. Just like that day that changed all of their lives forever five years ago when Zebulon unveiled his greatest creation: The Ironclad. It had been a rough time for everyone since then with the rumblings of war, fighting the confederacy, discovering a third party, and finally defeating said party which was in fact led by Zebulon.

It had hit Maxwell hard when he found out that his mentor betrayed the country, but he had gotten over it and had vowed to surpass Zebulon not only in achievement but in character as well. That is why he is now hosting a private testing of a project that he and his colleague had been working on for the past 3 years ever since their success with the Prosser Drive, just like how his mentor did for them in 1860. However, this time around their creation would be the developer of peace with no way of being utilized as a weapon of war. He steeled himself for the presentation for his gathered friends of that train ride leveled his eyes to his colleague and friend Joe.

"Are you ready to change the world?" his voice barely a whisper to anyone else.

"Well, I'm ready. It's just that I can't believe I'm so nervous now that we are actually going to do it."

"Everything makes you nervous, Joe." He chuckled remembering how ironic it was since they were the exact same words he used with the unveiling of the Ironclad so many years ago. "Just that this time we are the ones doing the unveiling not the other way around."

"You're right." Joe sighed, "Well since we agreed to this and all, might as well get this over with and face the music."

"My thoughts exactly. Well now let's get on with it!"

They both stepped in front of the cloth covered device and welcomed everyone to the private testing.

"Welcome dear friends to our workshop! We are gathered here today to the unveiling and testing of something that both Joe and I have been working on for the past 3 years. But before we get started I just have to ask, does anyone here know anything about electricity?"

Everyone in the room was thoughtful for a moment until Victoria asked, "Isn't it something that is involved with the telegraph?"

Rufus eyed her replying, "Yes electricity is used in our telegraph technology, but that is just simple understanding. My sources are saying that electricity is an energy source that could possibly be utilized to do things that our current steam technology can't do. And quite frankly unless someone can figure out how to make it work, it could possibly become the next big thing after steam."

"That is correct. I'm impressed on how you even known about this even though you are a politician."

Rufus shrugged, "It comes as being a lobbyist of the energy industry. You hear things from interest groups that want to get things passed through the Hill." he smiled, "But that doesn't explain what exactly that you and Joe cooked up here relates to electricity."

"Ahem, you're right and we shall immediately rectify that." replied Joe, "When we built the Prosser Drive, we were just utilizing tried concepts and technology to create a better power source. It was done that way mostly because of Edgar Dalhousie's demands of adhering to the protocols set by the Bureau."

Joe then turns to face Max saying, "But after the completion of the project. Max, being as who he is got the interesting concept that if we could use Belgium Anthracite to power steam engines. Why not utilize the radiative properties of Belgium Anthracite to directly power everything? That way in doing so we would increase efficiency and decrease the amount of materials required for construction."

"We thoroughly examined how exactly would be the best process of converting the radiative properties of Belgium Anthracite into something that could be used and made an interesting discovery. The radiative energy had a peculiar effect on metals, energizing them in the way that dynamos typically do, but at higher energy levels. Zebulon probably discovered this property when he studied the Anthracite which would explain why he replaced the mechanical calculating machine with the box and wafer calculating machine in the Ironclads. In discovering this property we were able to find a way to complete the project, but also possibly improving the calculating machines of the Ironclads to do things that they currently can't do effectively."

"Well, whatever you say. I'm still unimpressed by the ironclads even if you are able to improve them." retorted Crane.

"Yes, yes. We all know that. But the thing is, with their new electrical power source, it would possibly create the drive needed in the development of electrical technology. If this is any indication, I would say that this could change the world as we know it. Possibly would even get the funding needed for the research with contracts from the government!" exclaimed Rufus.

"Good to know that there is someone here who can see the implications of our little project." replied Max. He then walks over and removes the cloth covering the said device.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let us introduce you to our creation that would revolutionize the energy industry: The Ashwell Dynamo."

It was a rather simple design. It was shaped like a giant silver pill with wires coming out of it to the control and monitoring switchboard. According to the handouts that were given to them before they entered the workshop the device was fueled with 4 containers of Belgium Anthracite set up in a tight circular formation in the center of it, surrounded by radiation capturing modules that would convert the energy directly to electricity.

"According to our calculations, theoretically we could be able to generate 2.1 gigawatts of power." Joe announced with pride, "However, in this test we will try to generate 1 kilowatt of power, which would be a realistic level of power generation that can be used by the new electric motors that are being developed."

He looked over to Max who had positioned himself behind the control panel, "Are you ready to initiate the test?"

Max smiled and yelled, "As ready as we would ever be!"

"Alright then let's throw the switch!"

Max activated the main switch that would release the governors on the 4 Anthracite cores, thus initiating the radiation reaction. It was during their research that they found that putting individual anthracite cores in close proximity would amplify the amount of radiative energy released than from what they would've gotten from the individual cores combined.

Joe was standing-by with the electric motor that they ordered for the experiment so to show that the electricity that was generated would be able to power the motor. Everything was going smoothly as the electrical meter moved up to the 1 kilowatt mark of which Joe activated the motor showing for all to see that the dynamo really worked.

"As you can see we can power this motor with just only a very small fraction of the total capacity that the dynamo is capable of. Now that we have successfully completed the experiment Max will shut the…. Max? What is going on?"

The electrical motor that was being used for the test was increasing its RPM and since the speed was directly related to the amount of energy coming from the reactor it would true to say that the reactor was generating more power than the 1 kilowatt that they were trying to test.

"I don't know. I reengaged the governor switch, but for some reason it's not turning off." Max replied with a little panic in his voice.

Things were starting to look bad since the electrical meter was rising beyond the kilowatt range and was quickly going through the megawatt range. At the rate it was going it was going to hit the max power generation level in about 1 minute.

Max and Joe were frantically trying to activate the manual emergency shut-off lever, but the lever was a tight fit so trying to quickly move it was becoming a problem. "Forget it! Everyone quickly evacuate! Joe and I will try to shut it off before it blows!"

No one needed any more prompting since they were trying to quickly get out of the workshop before the possible explosion, but before everyone managed to get out of the double doors the dynamo reached critical mass.

Now you would think that something like that would just plain out explode, but since the full properties of Belgium Anthracite was not known there were surprises that would not show themselves until the right conditions were reached. It was in this case that the conditions for one of those surprises had been reached.

In a flash of yellow light and a blast of hot air everyone and everything in the workshop that was not tied down was sucked into the general area of the reactor. This lasted for about a full minute just as quickly it appeared the phenomenon suddenly disappeared. Leaving behind a slightly emptied workshop with a reactor missing all four cores and a burned out electrical motor with not a single person in sight.

-Area no too far away from Night Raid hidden base

Najenda was heading towards the general location of the Revolutionary Army's base camp. "Even so, we're still short handed…and the report Leone brought back say Esdese is Organizing a special force of teigu users….looks like things are about to get more difficult…"

-Night Raid Base

The activity at the base had mildly settled down for the day. Everybody was coping in their own ways with the recent death of Sheele and the more recent death of Bulat. Yeah everything is a normal, average day for Night Raid. What could possibly go wrong?

The answer to that question came in a giant blast of light and wind in the area in-front of the base. This came as a surprise to everyone, but everyone except for Tatsumi quickly reacted to the unexpected situation. Mine quickly brought her gun to bear at the light while shielding her eyes, Lubbock brought out his wires, Leone went to leo mode, and Akame went into a sword fighting stance. Tatsumi however went down yelling, "My eyes! Oh God, my eyes!"

When the assault of both light and wind finally died down after a minute, they were greeted with a rather odd sight. There was a pile of groaning people surrounded by tools, strange teigu looking machines, and most importantly 4 giant glowing glass vials containing a rock that they never seen before.

They were contemplating whether or not they should attack or not when one of the groaning people said, "Is everyone all right?"

"Do I look like I'm alright Joseph?!" yelled a rather gruff looking man. Apparently he seemed to have some fighting experience if the way he moved showed any indication.

"O.K. Colonel Crane is yelling so that is a good sign. What about you Rufus?" called a skinny looking man.

"Chester and I have seen better days, but we feel alright….We're not dead. Are we Max?"

"No. I don't think so. But why did you ask?"

"Because, either I'm dead and gone to heaven or there is a big breasted woman with animal ears and claws standing over there."

Everyone in the group followed the man's pointing hand to where the members of Night Raid were currently standing. The man named Joseph stared at them for a bit before visibly shaking himself and asked, "Um.. pardon me, but may we ask who are you people?"

The members of Night Raid looked at each other wondering for a moment what sane person would ask that question to people who were visibly ready to fight them, but decided for Akame to reply.

"We are the assassination squad Night Raid. Who are you and how did you get here? Depending on your answer you will or will not be killed."

_Dun Dun Duuuuun! I just had to do this. So if anyone can give some reviews it would be welcomed. I will continue with trying to write more chapters for the other works, but that would have to be seen in the future. Well this is PhantomGuardianoftheRepublic signing off!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Good to know that there is somebody out there that actually liked the story, thanks Addie Card. I also know that there are several other people that had looked at the story and I am slightly disappointed that nobody reviewed the story. Well, I think that we should just go on with the story then and see what other people say about it later on then._

**Chapter 2: An Alliance of Sorts**

Everyone in the group looked at the people who called themselves Night Raid with questioning looks. Finally, Joe shook himself out of his stupor and asked, "…Who?"

This was an actual surprise to the people of Night Raid since they were rather infamous in the Empire, although they shouldn't be too surprised if they came from some backwoods area like how Tatsumi was.

"You know. The famous assassination group that is the terror of the empire?" Lubbock said.

"What Empire? The British Empire? You people don't look British to me." Max replied, "Or are you all foreign nationals fighting against the British Crown or the East India Company?"

This bit of information made the members of Night Raid more confused since the empire is the empire. There was no such thing as a British Empire unless it was the name of one of the countries outside of the empire, but even so the empire should be rather well known outside of the country since the empire created the teigu in the first place.

"Let's rephrase the question. Where are you from?" asked Akame.

"We're from the United States of America, and if you all would so kindly help us get back to the States. Consider ourselves in your debt." replied Rufus.

"United States of America? Is there a country outside the empire called that?" asked Tatsume.

While Tatsume was asking that question, Akame quickly closed the distance to Rufus and held her blade to his throat.

"What. What are you doing?!" yelled an outraged Victoria while Chester angrily hissed at Akame for holding a sword to his owner.

"Don't lie to us. I've have traveled around when I worked for the empire and I have never heard of a United States of America. So tell us the truth or I'll kill you." she said with cold hard eyes.

Everyone in Night Raid was watching Akame wondering what to do next that they missed seeing Max and Joe franticly activating some of the Ironclads that came with them (their workshop had some of the Ironclads leftover from their trip for sentimental and research reasons). The next thing they knew there was an odd sound like metal grinding against metal and a giant figure swinging a giant blade down at Akame. She effortlessly dodged the swing jumping back about 2 yards away while everyone went on the attack on the thing that tried to kill Akame.

Leone made a wild punch at the thing, but ended up hurting her hand when she struck very hard metal. She had to jump back when her instincts told her of danger and narrowly gotten burned up by a pillar of flame that came from another giant figure to the left of the sword wielding one.

Mine tried to shoot the figure that tried to burn Leone to death, but suddenly found herself having to dodge unbelievable rapid fire from another figure to the right. Akame and Tatsume utilized the confusion to try to kill the sword wielding figure and the rapid fire figure, but Tatsume had to block an attack from another sword wielding figure that landed in front of the three. Akame took the chance to try and scrape the neck with Murasume and was surprised when she felt armor. Lubbock on the other hand quickly used his threads to try to either kill or hamper the movement of the other figures, but was also surprised on how heavy and armored the figures were. But they were pulling his threads with them like it didn't even bother them at all.

Everyone quickly retreated several meters back to assess the situation that was when they had a good look at the giant figures. Apparently the figures were the teigu like things that they saw surrounding the group. They were human shaped, but that was where the similarities ended since they were much bigger and were more rounded in shape. The three in the back were rather large compared to the one at the front and were bluish in color with a blue flag with stars in a circle arraignment at the breastplate area. The one at the front was smaller, grey colored with some yellow bands, and carrying some sort of tube on its back. All four of them were aiming weapons at them but for some reason they were not pressing for the attack.

"What are those things? Some sort of Teigu?" asked Tatsumi to the other members of Night Raid.

"What you people has never seen an Ironclad before? Seriously, it has only been 5 years since its introduction that everybody else in the world has heard about it." Max replied when the group went and stood beside the three ironclads with both Victoria and Crane holding weapons.

"What's an Ironclad? Is it some sort of puppet weapon controlled by a teigu like Yatsufusa? asked Akame with loathing eyes looking at the sword held by Colonel Crane.

"What do you mean puppet weapon controlled by a teigu? Ironclads have their own minds and follow orders like humans do. It's just that they can't do a lot of what humans can do since their minds are rather limited." Joe sighed, "We've been working on it, but until a recent discovery we were rather limited in what could be done to improve them."

"Wait. Are you telling me that you people built these things!?" asked Lubbock.

"Well. We weren't the ones who actually invented it. That honor is reserved to someone that Max knew very well, but he's no longer around."

The members of Night Raid could clearly see the sadness and hurt in both Max and Joe's eyes when they mentioned the man who invented the things.

"We're getting off topic. Who are you and where did you come from." Akame asked.

"Rufus already told you. We're from the UNITED STATES of AMERICA!" yelled a rather angry Victoria, "If you all still don't understand then just get us a map and we will show you where it is!"

Everyone except Tatsumi looked at Akame giving her the just give them the map it won't hurt look. Then Akame took out a map that she had somewhere on her person and tossed it over to the group who picked it up and examined the map. They were puzzled by the looks of the group when it changed from annoyed looks to one of surprise and then shock.

"What? I don't see America on this map do you?" Victoria asked.

"I don't see any of the countries or land masses that we are familiar with on this map. And believe me I used to be a trader so I know." replied Rufus.

"Could we have been sent somewhere that is not in our world?" Crane added, "Because this just reinforces my contempt for those boys little science project."

"Really Crane, I know how you don't like the Ironclads in general, but neither of us thought that this would happen. Clearly there are many more things that we are still unaware of Belgium Anthracite." Mused Max.

"Then is there any way that we could get back?" Victoria asked.

"We might be able to if we managed to recreate the same effects like what happened in the experiment, but without fully understanding that particular property of Belgium Anthracite. It could be possible that we would be sent somewhere else." Replied Joe.

"Which would mean that we are stuck here for the time being. If we are going to be stuck here for an indefinite amount of time then we should know what is going on around here before we do anything." Crane looked over at the members of Night Raid.

"But are you sure to trust them to tell us the truth? They did say that they were an assassination squad Crane." Whispered Victoria.

"They are the closest locals that could tell us what is going on." he replied, "And if you are still cautious about it then we could find out more from other people in the towns in the area."

"Alright then." Rufus answered, "Then let's ask them." They all looked at the Night Raid group and Rufus said, "Pardon for the show of force earlier, but apparently we are not from this world. Would you all kindly tell us what is going on and in exchange we will tell you all about ourselves."

The members of Night Raid looked at each other questioning whether or not to talk or just kill them. Finally, Akame relented and sheathed her sword. "All right we'll hear you out."

"Akame! You can't be serious to talk to the people that just tried to kill you!" cried Mine.

"Yes I am. And it is my fault for drawing my blade in the first place. So as an apology we should at least hear them out."

-go through Q&A session between Night Raid and Ironclad group. (Mind don't have effort to imagine this part.) Ironclad group finds out Empire is monarchy and is very corrupted, the existence of Teigu, and the existence of the revolutionary army and how Night Raid is affiliated with it. Night Raid finds out about the United States, Ironclads, Civil War, and what happened that brought them here.

"This is awful, an absolute monarchy that is ruled by a little kid that is being manipulated by this evil prime minister." Said a horrified Max, "John Locke was right. A republic is much better than a hereditary absolute monarchy. Even the British have a parliament with their royal family."

"Thank God that our government is a democratic republic. Even though it wasn't perfect to prevent the Civil War, but at least it is next to impossible for one person to get total control of the government." replied Crane.

"But what I don't understand is the fact that they created these things called teigu and don't have any idea of how they were made. They were made by human hands so surely there should be some record of the blueprints. It doesn't make any sense." Joe replied.

"Maybe they don't have a good system of record keeping or maybe they just have the blueprints hidden somewhere and just claim that they were lost. At least that's what I would do if I were sneaky about it." replied Rufus.

"Yeah, and I bet that you had some experience in that area." Retorted Victoria.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that my shipping company did some underhanded methods of trade."

"Then what would be our next course of action?" asked Joe.

"Well first we will need to make a living in this country, but I think that we need to be outside of the capital and lay low. I don't really want to have them come knocking at our door for some outlandish reason. Which means that we need the help of the locals to keep tabs on the government officials." replied Crane. "I hope that we could negotiate something with them after they finish up their own conversation."

Meanwhile, the Night Raid group was having a heated discussion on their own about the Ironclad group.

"They manufacture these things called Ironclads and used them in a Civil War! On top of that two of the people who were involved with their creation created a machine to create power and somehow gotten to our world." Lubbock said with an impressed look.

"They must be geniuses for being able to do that and also having to deal with a crazy man called Dimitry that was using better versions of them against them." Stated Tatsumi.

"Hey Akame. I know that boss was going to look for more people in the revolutionary army, but couldn't we make an agreement with these people? Quite frankly they themselves are an army if we were to think about the Ironclads." Leone piped up.

"No way! We shouldn't get involved with these people. Who knows if they would stab us in the back someday! Better if we either kill them or keep them at the base indefinitely." Mine countered.

Akame thought long and hard on this. On one hand they could have an ally that had unlimited manpower due to the fact that Ironclads are nearly indestructible fighting machines. On the other hand there was the risk that the group in question would backstab them since they were foreigners and don't have a good reason to help them in their fight. But what she saw of their reactions when they knew of what was going on in their country was promising since they were horrified of the atrocities of the prime minister.

She thought the pros and cons of either actions and finally made her decision. "We should ally ourselves with this group." She waved down Mine's retort stating, "While you're right that they might back stab us in the future, but from the reactions that I got from them when we described the prime minister was promising. Also we should not overlook the fact that we need more manpower and the Ironclads that they have would be very beneficial for us to have if we are to go up against Esdeath and her group. That is why we should take the risk and either get them to join Night Raid or at least ally with us."

With the rest of Night Raid agreeing with her decision she turned around and met with Colonel Crane. "We have discussed about the information that you have given us and we think that it is in our best interest if you could become allies with us in this fight."

"We also discussed about the information that **you** have given us and we also think that it is in our best interest if we could help you in this fight until we manage to find a way home." He replied.

"That is great! But since we are now allies and all what should we call you all?" asked Tatsumi.

Colonel Crane looked over to Max who stated, "Call us the Ironclad Division X."

_Woah that has taken a lot out of me. If there is anyone out there that are reading this story please review this story. It would give me great pleasure to know what people think about this. Well for now this is PhantomGuardianoftheRepublic signing off._


	3. Chapter 3

_You guys are really killing me here. I can see that many people have seen this story but seriously, __**I NEED SOME REVIEWS PEOPLE!**__ I really would like to see what people think about this story so please leave a comment. I am also working on the other stories but as I said before these things are typically when I got a good idea to progress. There are probably other people who can get ideas easier than me and if anyone could volunteer to PM me to bash heads with ideas it would be very much appreciated. Now on with the story._

**Chapter 3: Settling Down**

It had been only a couple of weeks since the arrival of the IDX, during that time the group was as busy as bees in the height of spring. They were very fortunate that Rufus as a lobbyist always carried a moderate amount of gold coins of rather pure mintage that he sometimes used to persuade some senators to approve the energy bills that were being passed through Congress.

They utilized his funds with the help of Night Raid (well the members that are not wanted) to get an empty warehouse for themselves at the outskirts of the Capitol. After they got the essentials, (food, bed, and industrial items) they all sat down and started making plans on what to do for the next few days.

"Alright, now that we have settled down let us plan the next course of action." Crane said while sitting down on a long worktable that they found with the warehouse. "From what I can see here, we are in a situation where we are currently stranded someplace that is not of our world. In some country called the empire which would be the closest to living in hell as we know it. Fortunately, there is a very organized rebel army that is waiting for the right moment to get rid of the current prime minister who for some reason reminds me of a Chinese chancellor called Cao-Cao. If we are to be here for an indefinite amount of time, I propose that we should utilize some of our efforts in trying to help them change this country for the better! The sooner this living nightmare ends, the more people that could be suffering from this could be saved!" This brought a round of agreement among the members of the IDX, of which Colonel Crane brought his attention to the nerds of the group and asked, "Joe and Max, how does the technical side of our situation look?"

"Well Joe and I were talking about it for a while and we are good security and material wise since the vortex took most of our tools and the ironclads in the workshop with us. However, we would need to find ourselves a source of Belgium Anthracite if we are to build more working ironclads and an ironworks to get the raw materials we need to build them. We are planning on prospecting the area for possible deposits of Belgium Anthracite or at least a good substitute with the detector that came along with us, but we think that it is best if we were to hide our Ironclad capabilities from the general public. That way when our Ironclads go into action they would be linked to Night Raid, but would not link to our normal selves which should keep us in the clear from the local authorities. However, it would look suspicious to the local authority here if we were to get an ironworks with no real product that they could see being produced which is our current dilemma."

It was at that moment that Rufus spoke up, "I think that I have the solution to your problem."

"Can you please elaborate on that then?" Joe asked.

"Certainly. As you all know, before I joined your wonderful company during the war, I was involved with the shipping industry. Therefore I learned to have a keen eye for opportunities that may escape the notice of most people. What I can see here that even though this country probably had a rather advanced science department to create the teigu. They didn't advance too much in the transportation and other departments."

"What do you mean?" Victoria asked.

"What I mean is that I can see an opportunity that could revolutionize the country while giving us an edge against our adversaries. One thing I noticed is that this country's transportation is heavily dependent on roads and canals. That is not bad and all, but we all know of a better transportation system that deals with the inherent problems of roads and canals. (For those of you who don't really know those problems here is a list: roads are good because they give a path for goods to travel however they are bad because dirt roads are dusty when dry and muddy when wet. Canals are good because they could carry more goods without the problems of roads however they need water and can't be used in winter because the water freezes.)"

"The railroad!" exclaimed Max in realization, "That is the edge and product that you are proposing. How on earth we didn't think about that!"

"It's probably because we are so used to railroads that we just assumed that they had them or at least something better if the teigu were any indication." replied Joe, "Although this brings up another point that we would also have an edge on would be the telegraph. Since, we would need to establish a line of communication between the stations so to prevent or at least mitigate rail collisions from happening. We could send messages faster than their courier system that they seem to be using which would benefit us in the long run."

"Do you think you two could be able to construct steam locomotives and telegraph systems from scratch?" asked Crane.

"Pish. We're from the Bureau of Steam Engineering. Building steam engines and telegraph systems are easy for us. The problem would be to find the manpower and training to get people to become familiar with our systems." replied Max.

"Perhaps we could ask the revolutionary army to fulfill the manpower problem. After all they probably have a large list of people that are loyal to them and are not fit for combat. Therefore, we would be giving something for them to do while protecting ourselves from people with questionable morals. I think you guys can imagine what would happen if the wrong people were to understand our capabilities." replied Rufus.

"Fair enough. But who will be in charge of setting the transportation and messaging systems up while the rest of us would be involved with the other projects?" Crane said thoughtfully.

"I think that we have the right person for that job." remarked Joe while eyeing Victoria.

"Ah yes. You are a special agent for the US postal service. With your skills it shouldn't be a problem for you to set up then." Replied Crane.

"You're right about that! Even though the telegraph systems were mostly the job for western union than the postal service we still have a very good idea of how the telegraph system works. Also the post office has been using trains to transport mail for a while so yes I can do it."

"Good then. With that we can address the final issue that we will have to settle which would be to seek the patronage of a government official."

"Whoa, whoa. Seeking the patronage of a government official? Are you out of your mind Crane?!" exclaimed Max.

"Actually, I can see the reason why we would need to seek patronage." Replied Rufus, "The history of the railroad was fraught with people who had interests in the other transportation systems trying to shoot down the railroad. If we don't get the backing of someone high up in the government, all efforts to establish the railroad would inevitably fail either legally or at worst physically."

"I can see your point. However, just who should we seek patronage from?" Joe asked.

"Well I for one wouldn't suggests the Prime Minister." retorted Victoria, "He sounds like the snake that you would prefer to keep as far away from you as possible since if you bring him too close it would strike you without hesitation."

"Also we can't seek the prince since he is being controlled by that Prime Minister." Replied Rufus.

"None of the other directors or nobility would work since they would be easily squashed by the Prime Minister if he had any reason to get rid of them. Not to mention nearly half of them are literal scumbags." Retorted Max

"There is one person that we could ask patronage from that is in very good standing with the Prime Minister and wouldn't care too much with our activities other than probably our certain advantages."

"Then pray tell us, Crane. Who is this heaven sent patron that we could recruit then?" asked Max.

"General Esdeath."

"Excuse me? I think that I heard that wrong but you can't possibly suggest that we get General Esdeath as a patron." Victoria asked.

"I'm not joking. However please let me explain. From what I heard Esdeath is a person who is only interested in conflict. Therefore, if we managed to get her as our patron, she wouldn't look into our activities too closely as long as we can maintain our operations smoothly. Secondly, she has a rather unique standing as the strongest in the empire and also she is not stupid. That way nobody would want to tangle with anything that Esdeath is involve with without risking her wrath putting us in a safe position legally and physically. It also helps that she is connected with the Prime Minister, but the Prime Minister just regards her as a very effective loyal tool and would not be interested in anything that she does. Also as my final point, since she is not stupid she would immediately realize the benefits of having a rail system tactically since the need to transport troops and materials is always a logistical problem."

"Alright. Even though I don't really like it, doesn't mean that I don't realize that you made some rather compelling points there." Victoria sighed, "Then who will be meeting with Esdeath?"

"That would be my job since I was a military commander so I should think that I could explain our benefits to her better than Rufus."

Everyone thought of Rufus dealing with a no nonsense experienced killer and had to agree mentally that Colonel Crane would be able to get through her better than the flamboyant Rufus.

"Now that concludes the meeting. Max and Joe would go prospecting for Belgium Anthracite while dealing with construction and research. Rufus will meet with Night Raid to get into contact with the revolutionary army for manpower and find an ironworks. Victoria will start planning the framework of our transportation and messaging systems and the training regimen for our new recruits. While I will arrange a meeting with General Esdeath. Any questions?"

After no one had any they immediately set to work on their objectives.

-fast-forward a couple of days, Max and Joe are at the fake mountain examining their detector with Tatsumi and Akame with them to act as body guards.

"Can you please explain why you two with no combat experience want to go Anywhere Near Fake Mountain?" Tatsumi asked while slicing up another tree beast. Akame was also thinking the same thing, but Tatsumi had already voiced her thoughts.

"That is an excellent question. Normally Max and I wouldn't want to go near a place like this unless we had a good reason to do so."

"And that reason is the fact that we need to find a deposit of Belgium Anthracite or at least a good substitute to it." Max ended the sentence while wrestling with the equipment and reading the dials.

"If I remember correctly Belgium Anthracite is what powers your Ironclads. Wouldn't it be easier if something else was used to power them?" remarked Akame.

"While that has been done before, it is something that we would rather not do unless there is no other choice." Replied Max

"How come?"

"Well for one, originally the ironclads were designed to use coal as a power source. However, the inefficiency and comparatively low energy density per gram of coal was not enough to power them for a realistic amount of time, which was a problem that hindered its use for combat operations. My mentor Zebulon found a solution around the problem which was the discovery of a material known as Belgium Anthracite."

"Just what exactly does Belgium Anthracite do?" asked Tatsumi (They had gotten rid of another wave of tree beasts and were on guard for any more coming.)

"It is not what it does was why it is used but the special properties of the material. Belgium Anthracite in particular has a very high energy density per gram of the stuff to make it powerful enough to power the ironclad and also allows us to use a small amount of it compared to the tons of coal needed to just make it walk a few steps."

It was then that the detector started to give off a faint beeping noise (like a Geiger counter).

"Hey I think we got something here!" yelled Joe.

"What?! What exactly is it doing?" yelled a surprised Tatsumi.

Max quickly brought his attention to the beeping machine toying with the knobs and examining the dials. Akame set a calculating gaze at what Max was doing but obviously she didn't know what in the world he was doing. However she hoped that by watching his actions she could get at least an idea of what to look for this Belgium Anthracite.

"Looks like that we got a faint signal of an Anthracite deposit." Said Max.

"Can you tell what grade it is?" asked Joe.

"Can't tell with the preliminary findings. Most of it seems to be radiation leakage from the source so it could mean that the soil has some rather good radiation shielding. If that is the case I would be rather optimistic about having a higher grade Belgium Anthracite than what we were expecting, but no celebrating just yet until we actually get to the source."

He then looks at Akame and Tatsumi asking "Do both of you have any experience in excavation?"

Akame and Tatsumi were puzzled but both answered that they had some experience in digging.

"Well this is the part where we get down and dirty." Max replied, "We're are going to dig our way closer to the source so we could get a good reading on the deposit and figure out the grade of the deposit. Thus allowing use to decide whether or not we could initiate mining operations."

-scene change to the base of Night Raid where Rufus is currently in conversation with Lubbock and Mine.

"Well what can we do for you Rufus?" Lubbock asked.

Mine in particular was keeping suspicious glances to Rufus, but she failing since she was being captivated by Chester. Who was not amused by her antics of coaxing him to let her pet him, constantly hissing at her whenever she tries. Rufus made a knowing gaze over the situation before bringing his full attention to Lubbock.

"We are settling down quite nicely thanks to Night Raid and we are quite grateful for the assistance. However, there are some issues that have come up that we hope that your organization could help us with."

Lubbock face hardened and asked, "Is it an assassination request?"

Rufus was surprised on that reaction but then realized that Night Raid was an assassination squad so of course they would think that their request for help could get mistaken as an assassination request.

"No. No. No. Nothing of that sort. The issues that came up are more of man power and the need to find an ironworks."

"Man power? Surely you don't think that a professional such as myself would do something trivial as to assist you in whatever you people are doing." Huffed Mine doing that high-class look.

Rufus didn't give any indication of being fazed by that rather he replied, "Oh no. I don't think that an accomplished lady such as you would be able to handle the job that we have in mind." Smirking at her astonished reaction of such a rebuttle.

She was about to retort to the verbal barb when Lubbock quickly answered, "An ironworks would be rather easy for us to find. However, I need to ask. Why are you coming to us for the need for man power? We are an assassination squad so you could say that we already have our hands full." He shrugged.

Rufus nodded but added, "What you say is true, which is why I am not asking Night Raid itself to fill our manpower requirement, but I hope that you can contact the Revolutionary Army to give us the manpower we need."

Lubbock turned thoughtful for a second before replying, "I see. That would make more sense. We could find people to help in your endeavor, but before we go the hard work of looking for suitable recruits I need to know what it is that you guys are doing."

"That is fair. There is absolutely no way that you all would be able to find the right people if you don't know what kind of job that we need them for. Very well. What we are planning on doing is to create transportation and messaging network in the empire. I will not go into the details right now since it's a work in progress. Quite frankly what we need is people who are detail oriented, can learn and memorize things quickly, decode and encode messages, has experience with machinery, and have knowledge in mining, civil engineering, and construction. Obviously, they all need to be aligned with the revolution so that is why we are asking for the Revolutionary army labor pool."

Lubbock was dumfounded by the request. He was thinking that the manpower requirement would need people who were familiar with combat, but instead was being asked for people with civilian skills. It was not like they didn't have a large pool of people with civilian skills, but mostly they had been using them as lower level spies since that was the only thing that they were good for. "Well it is not an unreasonable request, but why are you trying to create a transportation and messaging network? I thought for sure you people would be constructing Ironclads to help us in our fight against the empire."

"That would be true if only that we were not in hostile territory where the enemy's eyes are everywhere." Rufus replied, "What we are doing here is a bit of subterfuge. The transportation and messaging network is a double front. It would allow us to get the facilities needed to construct the Ironclads while also allowing us to construct the items needed for the transportation and messaging systems. Also by establishing a communication and transportation network we would be able to help with communication and transportation of war materials for the Revolutionary Army when the time comes. In the meantime we will be catering to the Empire who will not realize that they are helping their enemies own war ability with their money. Rather Ironic isn't it?"

Mine and Lubbock had rather neutral faces of course inwardly they were amazed with the man's thinking of utilizing the enemy's own power to attack themselves. They did find it funny that their enemy's money would be helping make their demise much quicker, almost like the idea of a person committing suicide without knowing that they were committing suicide.

"I would hate the day if I ever made an enemy out of you people." Lubbock smiled.

"So I take that you will help us with our issues?"

"Well. I'm not the boss, but I think that I can find you the people that fit your requirements. It'll probably take a couple of days, but I'll get it done."

"Please do. The faster we get those people, the quicker we can bring an end to this living hell."

-scene change to Victoria. Nothing much but she is going over maps and creating a booklet of regulations for the rail-line in addition of creating a training regimen for the telegraph operators.

-scene change again to Colonel Crane who is waiting in a waiting room to be received by General Esdeath. (took a little bribing, but he managed to get a meeting with her)

Colonel Crane was taking the sights of the palace knowing that he was literally in the belly of the beast. In the next few moments it will take everything in his power to convince the battle fanatic known as Esdeath to sponsor their railroad and messaging concept. He hoped that she would see the tactical advantages of a railroad and the need for it being sponsored by the empire. He was interrupted from his musing when a person came and told him the General Esdeath was ready to receive him.

He went into the office and sat down in front of her, steeling his self for the job that he had to do.

"I was told from the director of commerce that you require my audience?" asked Esdeath with a calculating gaze. "You don't look like a merchant to be precise. Have you some experience in the military then?"

"Yes, I was in the military for 25 years. After that I retired and did some soul searching of which I discovered Martial Arts. Nowadays I practice martial arts while conversing with my friends of which are the reason why I am here." Crane replied. "It was because of an idea that they had that should be beneficial to commerce and the empire that they requested this audience."

"Why an audience with me? Surely, they know that I have nothing to do with commerce and that I am more into the military affairs than anything else."

"The reason why is because that there are people who have vested interests in the roads and canals that we are afraid will do everything possible to prevent its construction. We needed the backing of someone high up that could protect us from such attacks while we continue with construction. Which is why you are the most suitable other than the Prime Minister since we do not want to incur his wrath if something does go wrong. But before you ask about the fact that this is the job of the commerce department, there are some other benefits about this idea that would help the military greatly. Which is why I was selected to give the details to you since both of us are familiar with the problems that the military has to deal with."

He saw Esdeath who was giving off a disinterested air earlier perk up a bit in the last part of his speech since this is the bait that they planned on hooking her into the project.

"Both you and I know that the army's main weakness is always the logistics. It takes time to gather the materials necessary for a campaign and even so there is the difficulty of transporting said materials over a great amount of distance in a good amount of time. The new transportation system utilizes an engine to pull cargo on a rail, thus allowing for greater loads carried and smoother transport. Saving both time and effort in the process."

He could see that Esdeath was becoming more and more interested in the idea since she obviously had to go through some of that pain in her past campaigns.

"While this is a tantalizing ability that your friends are promoting what would it make it any different from roads or canals?"

"A very good question. Roads and canals are good in their own ways. Roads could go anywhere and canals could carry more loads. However, we both know that going over roads really depends on the weather, too dry and the roads become dusty hell. Too wet and they bog everything down. Canals are costly to construct and maintain and are limited to where they are built. Also they require lots of water which too little would halt transportation traffic and they can't be used during the winter because the water freezes over. What the railroad as we call it would do is to lower maintenance and construction costs, increase cargo transport for less time, and could be able to go anywhere as long as there are rails to take it there. Logistically speaking it would allow faster troop movement and more materials shipped to the area of conflict than anything available. Also as an added bonus if you were to sponsor it you Miss Esdeath would get top priority for transport for free not to mention the revenue it will generate."

He could see the gears turning in her head contemplating the pros and cons of sponsoring their idea. But he knew that he got her hook, line, and sinker when he mentioned the tactical abilities and the fact that she would get priority transport for free.

"While I can see the benefits of such a system. It would be best if I were to actually get a feel of the system in person." She replied.

"Why yes. We will immediately build a test line between the Capital and Romari Road. All we need is for you to sign the paperwork to allow us to initiate construction. It would very helpful if we could use your crest for everything that we do so has less friction with the bureaucracy and expedite construction. Also an initial funding of 10,000 gold would be very beneficial."

"Yes you may do that, only for as long as needed to build this test line. I will give my final decision of fully sponsoring this little project of your friend's only if it lives up to the capabilities you described. Now if you could please excuse me, I have a meeting that I am needed at."

With that she grabbed a face mask that was hanging on a coat hanger and smoothly moved out of the office.

"Well that went better than any of us expected." Crane mused and then he himself took his leave.

-To the present time where they are having their board meeting.

"I know that we all have been working hard for the past couple of weeks and I thank everyone with their efforts in fulfilling or exceeding the goals that we set down all those weeks ago." Crane said, "Max and Joe your status reports."

"Yes. We have finished completion of the steam engine for the Capital and Romari Road test run. An industrial hauler with the ability of giving a smooth ride for passenger travel, almost like the one we used in the Civil War but with added improvements." Replied Max. "Rufus has to take the credit of getting us to where we are now since he got us a lot of good help from the Revolutionary Army. Heck we even completed the priority passenger cars that Esdeath and her Jeagers will be riding in whenever they need them. Funny how they will be relaxing in them not knowing that their enemies are closer than they think."

Max then turns to Joe and motions him to start the report about their findings.

"Well now. As you all know we have been prospecting for possible Belgium Anthracite deposits that we can use and I'm happy to say that it was beyond our original expected standards. Originally Max and I were thinking that we would probably find C to D grade ore similar to what we used for the war ironclads we used during the Civil War with the slight hope of B grade."

Everyone nodded at those standards. It was only after the Civil War that the Bureau of Steam Engineering decided to start a classification system for Belgium Anthracite ore after the extensive research of the cause of the harmful effects that were prevalent with the people working with the early ironclads. The classification system was set as S, A, B, C, D, and E.

E grade being the cheapest and what was usually used in civilian and industrial Ironclads, C-D grade being used for conventional military Ironclads, B grade for specialized industrial and military ironclads and Prosser drives (the good ones that is, there are those using C-E grades but that is typically people wanting to be cheap), and finally A grade for scientific research and experimental power systems like the Ashwell Dynamo. The S grade was something really theoretical since no one as of yet managed to find ore that fit the requirements of being labeled as S grade.

"Our actual findings were better than what we were expecting." Joe said, "The ore at Fake Mountain is 100% A grade material with the possibility of finding the elusive S grade ore in the mix, but that would require more mining for it to be seen. Since our friends at Night Raid have told us that danger beasts live in this area, Max and I have concluded that somehow the beasts are either utilizing or being affected by the radiation leakage from this source to become what they are. Kind of like Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection just that the effector is the Anthracite ore. The natural soil acts as a radiation shield preventing most of the radiation from getting out, but it is not perfect. So people are able to be in those areas for long periods of time, but they don't typically live there for generations mostly because of the danger beasts, which is a plus for our operations. Currently we are still searching for other deposits that are more remote and full of danger beasts, but are using the mining ironclads that we got to conduct covert mining operations on Fake Mountain to stockpile our supplies of Belgium Anthracite. Once we find a more suitable mining location we will transfer operations and seal up the shaft so that no one else will be able to find the lode."

He sat down and motioned Victoria to voice her situation.

"It is as Max had said, Rufus should get the credit of getting us good people from the Revolutionary Army. I have set up the Mail officers from initial group of trainees which would help me very much for training more people of our regulations and systems. We have a full complement of telegraph operators for all of the stations that we are planning to set up. Of course it needs to be seen if they will do as well other than the training sessions. The engineer training is going well with the help of Joe mostly since Max doesn't seem to have a good idea of teaching regular people how to maintain and fix things." She glared at the Max of which he was apologetically shrugging. "I don't think that we raised any suspicions regarding our hiring practices. Probably on the fact that we agreed that construction of the actual rail line was to be done by the locals around the planned line area. Not only are we adding money to the economy around our rail line, but we are becoming rather popular with the people in the said the area."

"Good. That should help us keep a lower profile since we are becoming popular with the people. It would also be good business for us to have an initial pool of willing customers who will tell by word of mouth how comfortable the ride is to their friends. Finally, Rufus how are our operations at the ironworks going?"

"Production of iron and recently steel is going within our projected levels. I'm doing some tricks with the paper work and the ingots to make it so that we are producing lower than actual so we could have materials for the new Ironclads. The actual smuggling of the ingots is being masked as the removal of hardened slag and scrap metal to a dump site where they are taken to our automated production facility. Kudos to the nerds of taking that idea off of Zebulon." Rufus smiled while making a look towards Max and Joe. Both who were proud yet uncomfortable at the same time at the words of the last sentence.

"Good. Well now, I guess it is time that we should greet our patron for the rail road company and pray that she would be impressed." Crane made a move to get up from the table when Max stopped him.

"Wait, we forgot the most important thing."

"Indeed? Then tell me what is it?"

"We forgot what our company should be called."

"Hmm… You're right. Alright then, anyone have any suggestions?"

They all went back and forth with different naming suggestions and rejecting them until they decided to call it: Union Transport, IDX.

_Hey everybody. This is probably the longest chapter that I have ever written. Please review and if possible PM me of good plot ideas. Thank you and now this is PhantomGuardianoftheRepublic signing off._


	4. Chapter 4

_Hi everyone, good to have some people review even though it is only two. But I think that idea of creating an ironclad version of Susanoo is a very good idea. I still can't believe that it never occurred to me. However, I will do it in a way that would allow them to actually be able to make it. So watch how this story continues carefully. So now on with the show!_

**Chapter 4: Further developments**

-Half-finished station at the outside edge of the capitol. Esdeath and the Jaegers are currently waiting on a platform with Colonel Crane waiting for their train that would take them to Romari Road.

"I hope that your friends are up to their boasts. It would be a shame for us to have to demolish this station of yours." said Run who was examining the intricate workmanship of the place. (Think of the design similar to the Broad Street Station.)

"Humm. I for one would think that it is not stylish enough. Although, I think that it is good in its own way." Says Dr. Stylish, "Would you all mind if I were to help out with improving the design?"

"No, no. We're fine with everything as it is thank you very much." Crane said gruffly, "I'm having the feeling that your idea of stylish is something off kilter. Something we really don't need if we are to entice people to use the rail lines." Dr. Stylish looked rather hurt on the comment, but didn't press on the matter. Meanwhile, Seryu Ubiquitous was standing right behind Crane trying to get him to talk to her.

"Hey! I heard from the commander that you were in the army! My father was a soldier to the empire! Have you met him?" she yelled cheerfully.

"Hmmm. Well I don't recall seeing your father but I think that he would've been proud to have a daughter like you."

"He died on the line of duty fighting against evil. So it is my duty to enact justice on the evil in the capital like Night Raid!"

"…. If you mean justice that would be killing them on the spot yes?"

"That's right! Justice must be dealt with swiftly on evil!"

"If only the world was really black and white. Then we wouldn't need courts." Crane mumbled.

Seryu wanted to ask Crane what he meant when they were interrupted by a shrieking noise that they never heard of before. Everyone went into attack mode ready to take down whatever it was that was making the strange noise except for Esdeath and Colonel Crane.

"Relax. I really doubt that the whistle would kill you all unless you were stupid enough to fall on the tracks. And please Dr. Stylish get rid of your personal army it's really creeping the workers out."

Some of them were ready to make retorts when they heard a puffing sound that came from a brick warehouse that was a short ways from the station. They turned and had a very good look on what they would be riding. It looked like a carriage that they never seen before, entirely made out of metal with a tube like shape for the body. It was constantly hissing and puffing while giving off so much smoke that they half expected that the thing was on fire. What really shocked them was the fact that it was moving all on its own without the aid of any heavy draft animals.

"What… What is that?! Some sort of new teigu!?" yelled Wave while looking shocked. Beside him Kurome looked on with calm interest.

"Of course not. That my fine fellow is the fruits of the proposal that my friends had me convey to your superior." Crane cuckled amused on their reactions to the train that he and his colleagues were so familiar with back in their world.

They all waited on the platform while the train pulling the private passenger cars of the Jaegers slowly made its way to the station platform that they were waiting at. With the hiss of air the train quickly stopped. From the cab of the strange machine stepped out two men of whom Crain said, "Let me introduce to you General Esdeath my friends and the geniuses responsible for this idea, Maxwell Prosser and Joseph Ashdown."

General Esdeath was taken aback a bit when Crane said that they were the geniuses that came up with this idea that he mentioned in her office. She was half expecting for them to be of the same quirky character type like their very own Dr. Stylish, but what she saw vs what she expected was very different. Both of them were wearing rather odd workman clothes that wouldn't differentiate them much from the workers that were currently building the station. However, she could see in their eyes a certain intelligence that was similar to Dr. Stylish but of a much more humble sort. She was broken out of her musings when Max made his greetings.

"Welcome to the station Jaegers. I hope that it wasn't long for you to wait for us to get things ready for the trial run."

General Esdeath made a cool gaze on him and said, "I do hope that what you are proposing would make up for the time that we spent waiting for you today. It would be rather bad if you wasted our time for nothing."(veiled threat, they were planning on doing the tournament that day, but had to push it later due to the train test)

"Of course now step this way to the passenger car. Oh and before I forget, please place your teigu into the baggage car."

Everyone was going to protest that when Joe stated, "It is for safety reasons. As you know we are conducting a test run of the rail line and you all apparently are a bit nervous of our little creation here. It would be bad for everyone if a teigu user panicked and I'm sure that everybody all wants to stay alive. General Esdeath is the exception since her teigu is with herself at all times and has a level head. But don't worry the baggage car will be right next door to the passenger car and when you all managed to get accustomed to this experience you will all be able to ride with your teigu."

Everybody had to agree with Joe that they all were rather nervous of the big, black, smoking, moving thing that was running without an animal pulling it. And it also made sense that if a teigu user were to panic a lot of people around that person would probably die as a result.

So everyone including Kurome piled their teigu to the awaiting porters at the baggage car. There was a bit of trouble to get 'Koro' to separate from Seryu, but a promise of eating 5 death row criminals and ordering not to eat the porters later they managed. After that everyone went on board one after the other with General Esdeath being led by Colonel Crane at the head. Then it was Dr. Stylish followed closely by Seryu, then Run went next of which Kurome followed but not before she brought her big bag of candy with her. Finally, it was only Wave and Bols, but both of them were waiting for either one of them to go next because both of them didn't want to be the next person to go on the train.

Finally it was the order for Bols to go next by General Esdeath that settled the issue and allowed them to sit down and examine their passenger car. It was rather luxurious with the upholstery and cushioned chairs that were in it. There was a book shelf on one side of the wall and a small bar with a bartender at a corner of the car.

"As you can see. This here is the lounge of which you all could relax and enjoy some entertainment when we are on our way to Romari Road. The next car is the baggage car where some supplies and your teigu are located. Behind us are the Dining and sleeper cars for any journeys that would require more than a day of travel to get there. But for now, please settle in and enjoy the ride." said Max.

He then went out to tell the conductor to prepare for departure. In the meantime everyone settled in. Esdeath sat in a chair that gave a view of the outside windows to see how fast the train can get with Crane sitting at her side. Bols, Seryu, and Wave sat at one of the tables and started a conversation about the train and the general going on of the capital. Kurome and Run sat down at the bar, the first to get snacks and the latter reading a book he got from the bookshelf. While, Dr. Stylish sat down with Joe to talk about the technical stuff about the steam locomotive.

"I have to say; even though the thing is such a horrendous looking machine it is something that has never been seen before in the empire. Tell me, how exactly did you all managed to get the idea?"

"It's rather simple really. When you heat up water it turns into steam. If you can contain that steam you generate pressure. Then all you have to do is to find some way of using that pressure to drive the wheels and you get a steam train. However, I do find it rather odd for a doctor as you to be in a police group such as the Jaegers."

"Why yes, it would be rather odd for such a stylish man as myself to be in something so ugly as a police group. But you as you can see everyone here owns a teigu I myself included. General Esdeath needed teigu users to do combat with Night Raid and so here I am, even though I'm more suited for the support role than actual combat."

"So if I'm remembering it correctly, your teigu is the one that looks like a pair of gloves. Can you please shed more light on what the thing can do?"

"Why certainly. My teigu perfector increases my speed and precision of my hands. It allows me to heal any injury short of death so it is a very useful teigu for a stylish man like me."

"Huh, if it was used for engineering purposes. Then that would mean much better machining precision and parts, which would in turn mean less friction and increase efficiency." Joe mused. "Where can we get one of those? It would be very helpful for our manufacturing facilities if we had one."

General Esdeath looked over to Joe and answered, "Unfortunately, perfector is the only teigu of its kind. So unless Dr. Stylish dies you're not going to be able to use it let alone get it. And even if the teigu was available there is the chance of rejection."

"Oh…and here I was hoping that we could use one for our engineering department." Joe sighed crestfallen.

Everyone else in the Jaegers felt bad for the engineer and wanted to console him when the car suddenly jerked forward.

"What was that!?" Wave yelled while getting into a full guard stance while everyone else tensed up. It was at this point that Max returned and saw the pose that Wave was doing.

"Did I miss anything? Cause just letting you guys know that we are on our way to Romari Road."

They stared at him for a moment before realizing that they were in a moving car attached to a train. Of which Wave sat down with a face turning red with embarrassment. It was at that point that two other people entered the cabin behind Max.

"General Esdeath, let me introduce our other members of Union Transport, IDX. Mr. Rufus Mitchell, head of our human resources and financial departments. And Victoria Roebling, head of personnel and planning; who is also the Post Master General of our Mail Service." stated Colonel Crane.

"Charmed to meet our patron for this little endeavor. I hope that so far it has satisfied your expectations?"

"I have yet to see if this thing actually meet my expectations, but I think that we should hold that verdict until we reach our destination."

Esdeath then turned her attention to Victoria and asked, "Although, I have to ask. What is this mail service that Crane speaks of that you are in charge of? How is it any different from the courier service?"

Victoria huffed, "The difference between us and that joke of a courier service is that we deliver mail for everyone. Not just the Nobles and the rich businessmen, but to the lower classes as long as they can pay for postage. Which is rather cheap in comparison on what those people are charging."

Esdeath nodded since she had heard some complaints on the high prices for the courier service due to the corruption that she hates to admit exists. But those people know better than to make her pay ridiculous prices on messages that she wanted sent.

"However, I can see you have a gun. Do your mail people also have a habit of being armed just for sending mail?"

Victoria was shocked at that, "Don't you know that sending mail is a hazardous occupation with all the bandits around? Sometimes letters would have money in them and sometimes they don't. Not to mention the possibility of one of the letters containing information that could be used to get money. So it gives them more than enough reasons for them to attack our mail people, so obviously we had arm ourselves and learn to fend them off."

They were interrupted from their conversation due to the commotion of the other Jaegers who were currently looking out of the windows.

"Wow! Look how fast we're going!" Seryu exclaimed.

"I don't think that a horse could be able to get this fast without tiring themselves out." Wave added.

The others made silent agreement on that matter since from the looks of it. The speed that they were maintaining was impossible for any animal to do without tiring themselves out. General Esdeath took a while confirming the view and asked, "How fast can this thing go?"

Colonel Crain answered, "Well the average speed that a horse can maintain would be around 10-17 mph if you want to go long distance. For our train we can maintain an average speed around 50 mph with a maximum speed of 70 mph. That is with a full load of 17 cars of passengers or cargo."

Esdeath did those figures in her head and realized that in terms of speed and cargo capacity the train fully defeats the horse.

"So far what I can see is very promising." General Esdeath hinted.

Colonel Crane smiled and said, "Believe me. When the test is over, you'll be very impressed."

-they eventually get to destination in record time. Everyone is impressed, they go home, yadda yaddah. O.k. time to go back.

The members of the IDX were sitting in their headquarters reviewing the day so far.

"Well, it is good to know that they were impressed by our capabilities. But what is also very impressive is that they never caught on with our other activities or our true colors." Colonel Crane said.

"Yeah, I was rather surprised that our reason to arm our mail personnel actually was bought by them." Victoria replied, "This would help considerably when we turn the tables on them."

"I know that you would like nothing better than to fight against them right now, but we still need to muster our forces and continue with the rail network."

"I do like to note that the teigu perfector is something rather handy for Max and me." Joe piped up, "It would help us very greatly on some ideas that both of us would like to try."

"Alright, when we get the chance we will try to get it. But for now it remains with the Jaegers. Until then, we shall do the best that we currently can."

_And that is it for this chapter. Lots of stuff hinting what I will try to get this story to go. I will try to post the next chapter quickly but for now this is PhantomGuardian signing off._


End file.
